


stars glued to her thighs

by Naolin



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Guardians (League of Legends), F/F, Generic Magical Girl Genre Plot, Magical Girls, Plot, Romance, Some Very Minor Implied Gender Dysphoria, Trans Female Character, With Prestige Comes New Power, light cannon, lightcannon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25707922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naolin/pseuds/Naolin
Summary: "The next time she's down, we kill her," Lux rephrases. She doesn't think there's value in skirting around it.Jinx shrugs. "If we gotta, we gotta. We don't get all remorseful about killing the voidlings, right? Monsters are monsters. We're just seeing if she can stop bein' one or not. Wanna stay the night?"
Relationships: Luxanna "Lux" Crownguard/Jinx
Comments: 20
Kudos: 63





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Flirting with her is like butterflies screaming, Taking off into the night

⋆☆★☆⋆

The night is deep lavender, the stars barely visible in the cloudless sky.

It's the streetlights, the houselights, the big-city skyscrapers, and the swirling art spires that run up Alune Tower that dim their glow. Light pollution makes the stars have to compete with it, and Lux can't decide which side she wants to take: human or star.

Forcing her gaze up to the observation tower in the distance feels like scaling a steep mountain — she's certainly as out of breath as if it were — but she forces herself to look. The sight of it always steadies her; like an ever-present angel watching over Valoran City, always visible against the distant horizon. It's a silly thing, but this tower is her guardian.

It's what she imagines it might be like to actually _know_ that the First Star is looking out for them the way that Soraka and Lulu know.

Lux has never been one for architecture, but she still loves the way that golden lights swirl around the base of the tower, climbing up around the height of the building like vines. In the winter the lights are blue, but in the summer, like tonight, they stay gold. In all seasons the shimmer of them ripples up like slow and soothing waves being pulled toward the moon.

It doesn't soothe her as much as she had hoped. Lux feels her heart's erratic pulse drumming up a storm inside of her. She breathes in deep to try and regain control, waiting impatiently for the adrenaline spike to drop. She inhales the cold night air, filling her lungs and smelling park roses and the sweet scent of water from the fountain.

There's a crawling feeling inside her stomach, an anxiousness much more precise than the fear in the heat of a battle. It's an impatient energy with no outlet, and the way it thrums in her heart is unfamiliar to her. She is barely repressing the urge to tap her foot, to finger-comb her hair or maybe just tear it out.

The others are not letting their transformations fade, all of their eyes focused on the same thing, all of them rigid with the same uncertainty. The rift is closed and the voidlings are dissolving into the ether — in only minutes, it will be as if nothing ever happened here. As if this park is just a park, and these girls are just girls.

It should be over now. They are used to these fights, to these monsters. Used to each other as interwoven teams. Used to winning, but barely, and used to letting their magic fade into their comfort-clothes before late-night snacks and exhausted walks home.

But tonight, two generations of star guardians stand stiff, refusing to let their guards down, refusing to let their magic slip away.

All of them are focused on the same thing.

Zoe, unconscious under the healing glow of Soraka's palms. Zoe — their enemy — laid out on a park bench. Her hair splays out all around her, tumbling off the edge of the bench and down to the ground, impossibly long and streaked with the blues and violets to match midnight.

Lux watches the rise and fall of her chest, somewhat relieved by how it's evened out. It was more ragged, earlier, wheezing and shuddering in a way that was hard to watch from the body of a child. The rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, now, is a comforting sight after the bruises on her body, after the tears and stains on her clothes.

It's easier to fight monsters than fallen stars. It's not something any of them take joy in.

Tonight, they won. Not a stale-mate, not just weakened her until she fled, not fought through a trap she'd laid for them as she watched from safety.

This time, they won.

And now they have to decide what to do with their injured enemy.

The waters of the fountain flow loudly in Lux's ears, as overwhelming as a rushing river. She's supposed to be the leader here, isn't she? She needs to say something. She _needs_ to, but she doesn't know what to tell them. She can't think of a plan of action that seems appropriate; she doesn't have a frame of reference for this.

It's always been repetitive, almost formulaic, the way they fight. She doesn't take it lightly, but that doesn't mean she doesn't recognize patterns, doesn't fall into them and come to expect them.

A part of her wants to defer to Ahri, but when she steals a glance her way, the other girl looks just as frazzled. Lips pursed tight and eyes narrow, but her silence gives away that she's steeled herself to hide helplessness. She isn't moving, isn't speaking up to take the lead, and Lux knows it has been a struggle for her every step of the way to relinquish that authority. If she isn't speaking now, it's because _she_ doesn't know what to say, either.

Jinx is the first to break. Her star guardian uniform shimmers away, leaving her in a cropped hoodie and gym shorts. The vulnerability of it fills Lux with an anxious paranoia; she steps closer, just in case.

Jinx's golden eyes track her, narrowed with an acute awareness that makes Lux feel as if she should apologize or explain herself. Before she gets the chance, Jinx demands, "So? Now what?"

" _Now what_ ," Ahri mutters, as if it's a stupid question. "What do you think you're doing?"

Jinx rolls her eyes. "Relaxing a bit. Those two puppets ditched their master and the fight's over."

"Is it?" Syndra asks, voice flat and unreadable.

Neeko looks back and forth between each of them, like she is trying to determine whose lead she is meant to follow and coming up empty handed. She chews her lip, and it only makes Lux's anxiety hit a new peak. She doesn't want to hear Neeko blame herself — to say that it was her own attack that had done this.

Lux opens her mouth, but Ezreal beats her to the punch with a quiet: "It is. It's over for now."

Ahri shoots him a glare; she may have opened up to a healthy friendship between their teams, but she still expects loyalty from her own.

For once, Ezreal doesn't buckle beneath her gaze. He meets her eyes evenly, and his magic dispels, leaving him in a T-shirt and jeans.

It's strange to see him and Jinx in solidarity with one another, but if they're willing to stand together for once, Lux takes it as a sign that they're in the right.

Jinx may be Lux's best friend, but this does not mean she is always right. Lux always understands where she is coming from, but that isn't the same as being _right_. She is impatient, quick to anger, and leaps to violent solutions first, after all.

So if _even she_ is pushing for a peaceful option, that has to be worth something. If Ezreal is willing to go against Ahri, willing to back up someone who relentlessly bullies him, there must be a good reason.

Ezreal says, "If it's a trick, we deal with it when the time comes. Cross that bridge when we get to it." There is a mediating tone to his voice, but Lux knows that Ahri will mistake it for condescension.

"Ours has always been a very… Reactionary occupation," Janna offers. Her magic still swirls around her like a tightly-held weapon that she isn't ready to set down.

"That doesn't mean we can't be prepared _,_ " Sarah says. "It doesn't mean we have to be stupid."

"We—" Lux begins, and is quickly interrupted by Jinx.

"All of you are standing around like you're ready to fight some more. You're not chasing after the other two, so, what? You gonna hurt a defenseless kid?"

"If the kid attacks _us_ ," Poppy grouses, at the same time as Lulu asks, "Oh, are we not kids?"

Jinx drawls, "Love that, love this for us. As a team bonding thing. Premediated child murder."

" _Don't_ talk like that is _even remotely_ what is happening here," Ahri snaps. "This is about protecting our own against someone who has been our enemy for a _very_ long time. Do you not understand what she can do? She isn't a _child_ just because she looks like one, and she has blood on her hands!"

"Fights are fights," Neeko ventures, timidly. "And when they end, everyone is okay. Maybe gone somewhere else, but okay."

She is trying to soothe Ahri, but it doesn't work. Lux takes another step towards Jinx, just to place herself between her and Ahri. She raises a hand up to signal for Jinx to quiet, trying to stall for a moment while she figures out how to mediate.

She isn't surprised to be ignored.

Jinx rolls her eyes. "If it's just about protecting, then stick with being — like Windy said. _Reactionary._ "

"I'm not willing to risk the lives of—"

"—Stop," Lux finally manages to interject, and is vaguely startled that they both listen. Ahri snaps her mouth shut. Jinx turns her head to look away. "We need to decide what to do as a team. That means having a _conversation_ , not just arguing. Be nice."

 _Be nice_ strikes her as a terribly childish thing to say.

Uncomfortable under the combined gazes of both teams, Lux shifts her weight. "Neeko, you're right. Usually, when the fight is over, she runs off… But this time she hasn't. And she's played tricks on us before, but I don't think this is one of them. She couldn't fool Soraka like this. She's just _actually_ hurt."

All she's doing is reiterating the problem. She needs to decide what they're going to _do_ about it, but a temporary distraction doesn't hurt to help them reset. To let Ahri and Jinx cool down.

Lux turns her attention to Soraka. "How is she?"

Soraka is quiet, so long that Lux almost thinks she won't answer. Then she tilts her head to look over her shoulder.

"Just unconscious."

"Her transformation hasn't worn off," Lux points out. It would have faded away if she had tapped out her magic. "That's a good sign, right?"

Soraka nods, but Lux can see the apprehension in her eyes. It's a bit disheartening that even Soraka is not sure whether she is delivering good or bad news. "She's in no danger. Only pain. She still has magic to draw on; that magic will lend itself to healing."

"Wouldn't call that a good sign," Sarah grouses. "It would be better for us if she _didn't_ have any more magic." Despite her words, she makes her stance clear by dispelling her star guardian uniform into a pair of cover-all shorts with a black tube-top underneath. Lux appreciates the gesture, and sees the way Jinx's eyes flick towards the other redhead in acknowledgment.

"Don't forget what we are," Soraka reminds them, after a pause. "She's still like us. Without magic…"

Realization flashes across Sarah's face, quickly masked with the sort of unbothered confidence of someone who is trying to hide their discomfort. "Right. Got it."

It can be easy to forget the unwritten rules of guardians. That they need magic like they need air. To lose this destiny is to lose their lives, and Lux swallows thickly. 

What happens when their duties are done? When the universe is safe and the First Star is satisfied? Do they live the rest of their lives with a magic they no longer need? Will they even live to see that day?

Or will they burn out, whether in the line of duty or once their duty has been exhausted?

Lux likes to think that the First Star is not so cruel. Likes to think of magic only as a blessing.

But she also knows the unwritten rules.

"Okay," Ahri concedes, breaking the uncomfortable silence. She does not sound pleased about it, but when Lux looks her way, she's back in a yellow sun-dress. Her eyes don't leave Zoe's body, even as she is clearly addressing Lux. "So we talk about it. Fine. What do _you_ think we're supposed to do, here?"

"We're not just… Leaving her here when she's hurt," Lux says.

Syndra says, "We could."

Ahri lets out a frustrated exhale. "Look I'm not advocating for — anything. Okay? I'm just saying, _healing_ your enemy is a real stupid move. When someone has been trying to kill you, it isn't exactly in your best interests to nurse them back to health."

"You wanna kill her while she's down," Jinx rephrases.

Lux waves a hand in another attempt to shush her; she's clearly still sour. "She said she's not advocating for it," Lux points out. "And she has a good point. What Zoe's done… Healing her is just handing her more chances to do it."

Sarah adds, "Her rap sheet doesn't _end_ with trying to kill us. Or start there."

"Then we stop healing her," Jinx says, and shrugs. Lux knows the disinterest in her voice is a mask for her frustration. "We just leave her here, all injured and tapped out, and then let destiny do the rest. We're big on destiny, right? That's like, our thing?"

"I'm not leaving a hurt kid on a park bench in the middle of the night," Ezreal grumbles. He can't read Jinx like Lux can, but she doesn't blame him for wanting to argue against the idea. "That's messed up, even if…" Unable to find the words, he just gestures at her.

Ahri's tone is still short when she fills in the blanks. "Even if she's _killed_ our sisters before. Brought them back and stolen their light. Just because she looks like a kid, you'll forgive that? You'll risk letting it happen to any one of us?"

Lux frowns. She usually tries to stay out of it when Ahri talks to Ezreal like this — he's her friend, but their internal team dynamics aren't her place to intrude on. Tonight she interjects, "That's not what he's saying."

He shoots her a quick look of gratitude, and Lux does not smile back only to keep from making them feel to Ahri like a unified threat.

"We'd be no better," Soraka murmurs. Her words take Lux a moment to process.

Not Ahri, apparently. Her words burst out of her. "No! I hate that. You're no better than a mass-murderer if you kill _one_ person, to stop them from killing more and more and more people? It's a — a —"

"—A false equivalency?" Janna offers demurely. Ahri just points at her aggressively in agreement, not bothering to repeat the words.

"So you _do_ want to kill her," Jinx interprets.

Lux loves Jinx very dearly, but wishes she'd shut her mouth instead of stoking the flames of conflict.

Before Ahri can reply, Lux interrupts: "We're not. Just — let's think about this from another angle. If we leave her here and she recovers on her own — that puts anyone around her in danger. We don't know what she could do. What if she doesn't have the energy to get home? Whatever home is for her. Leaving her here risks her own safety, but it also risks the safety of innocent people."

She opens her mouth to add a firm: _I'm taking her home with me to look after_ , but this time Soraka is the one to cut her off. She looks up from where she is kneeling on the ground, her eyes crystalline clear, and announces softly, "I'm going to bring her back to my place for the night."

The stretch of silence is tense as they all watch her, unsure of whether or not they should argue. Of _how_ to argue.

When Soraka dispels her transformation, she is left in an over-sized sweatshirt over leggings. Lux's eyes linger on the scrapes on her legs that have gone unhealed, but when she looks back up, Soraka's eyes are resolute.

"A sleepover," Lulu whispers.

Soraka smiles, deceptively placating, but leaving no room for argument. She stands, pushing herself up with her fingers at the edge of the bench.

"There's a field trip tomorrow," Syndra points out, her voice flat enough to convey what an absurd thing this is to care about.

"I may have to miss it," Soraka replies. "I hope you'll all come with me some time to make up for it?" Gingerly, she picks Zoe up in her arms, holding her like a sleeping child. She _is_ a sleeping child, Lux realizes, and the thought is viscerally unnerving.

Ezreal grins. "I'd rather go on a Star Guardian outing to Alune Tower than a school field trip."

Lux can tell that his satisfaction at getting his way conceals his nervousness. She doesn't blame him — the thought of gentle Soraka alone with a child who's killed stars is unnerving. The idea of her sleeping in the same house. If she sleeps at all.

Her eyes drop back to Soraka's injuries. They're small, but she hasn't healed them. She doesn't have the energy to.

"It's too dangerous," Lux murmurs, so quietly that she is about to repeat herself when Janna speaks up.

"I'll stay," Janna says. She gives a nod to Soraka. "If you'll have me. I'll stay."

Soraka nods, her cheek to Zoe's hair, frighteningly domestic. "Please."

"Me too," Syndra says. Lux blinks in surprise; for a moment she thinks Syndra is looking at her. Then she realizes that the older girl's eyes are settled past her, on Janna. Syndra's lips quirk up almost mockingly. "It would be best to have some offensive magic nearby, just in case."

Lux looks over her shoulder to see Janna's mouth pull tight, but she doesn't argue.

Ahri chews her lip for a long moment. "Call me," she says, firm. "If anything happens. Call me right away. If she attacks you, if she wakes up, if she so much as _twitches_ in her sleep."

Soraka's voice is soothing as a lullaby. "Of course."

The park is alight with the glow of their remaining transformations dispelling, then finally quiet for the night as they disperse back to each of their empty homes.

⋆☆★☆⋆

The walk home is always hard. Lux is exhausted from the battle itself, but this time it's more than that. Her worry for Soraka makes her feet drag — the thrum of anxiety from arguing with everyone still feels like electricity under her skin. She has never been good with conflict like this.

Jinx walks beside her, quiet and looking as casual as ever. Lux can usually read between the lines with Jinx, but tonight she stares and stares and can't guess what's going on in her mind.

Jinx's eyes slice over to her, sidelong. "What?"

"What what?"

"You're staring."

Lux finally has to tear her gaze forward. She smiles, allowing a hint of playfulness into her voice. "No I'm not."

Jinx accepts this for a moment, her own lips tugging up knowingly. Lux listens to their footsteps padding up the gentle incline of the road, and the wind in the trees that border it. The quiet and peaceful dark of a sleeping city is always soothing after a fight.

The moment sinks into her skin, the cool night beaming down on them. Empty streets and dragging steps, and moonlight shining down on Jinx's legs and stomach, starlight kissing her hair. These become the whole world, the reason that the world is worth protecting.

"You think it was weird," Jinx eventually says, eyes forward. She does not sound offended, but she does not sound neutral, either. "That I didn't wanna kill her."

"No," Lux says quickly, before thinking of what else to say. She pauses to think — to sort out her feelings so that she can speak them. "No, I don't think it's weird. You're not a _cruel_ person."

The way Jinx turns to look at her with an arched eyebrow says she thinks that Lux is mistaken. Lux nudges her in the side, and the two of them lean and stumble, the sound of their footsteps uneven beneath light laughter.

"Ahri was right, though," Jinx says, when the moment passes, and the sound of their slow footsteps is even again. She can admit it, now that they are alone. "It wouldn't _be_ cruelty. It's not the same thing. Eliminating a threat."

"I just want to think there's another way," Lux murmurs.

Jinx laughs. "That's because you're a dumb softy."

She does not say it, but Lux knows that she means — that it's because of how they met.

A transfer student in the middle of the school year would be the talk of the class no matter what, but it didn't help when she showed up with twigs and leaves in her long red pigtails, snapping bubblegum during her introduction to the class. With dirt and scrapes on her knees, and bruised knuckles from the guys who hadn't been deterred enough by her glare.

 _Got kicked out of the last school for fighting,_ one of Lux's classmates had whispered, with carefully chosen words and uncomfortable pauses. They were safe from the teacher's ire only because he was busy scolding Jinx for her gum, but Lux had scowled at them anyway.

There was more that they whispered. Heartless cruelties from the sheltered minds of middle schoolers. Lux forced herself not to listen. It wasn't hard. They were wrong.

Because no matter what the other children had said, Lux had just thought: what pretty eyes. Golden, just like sunlight. And her hair — as vivid as rubies, as roses, as deep crimson cherries. What nice, long hair that must take so much time to brush when she gets home.

How frustrating it must be to have to switch schools, to have to meet new people. How difficult it must be to try to care all over again.

How heartbreaking to be met with whispers on your very first day.

Lux had made a point of sitting with her at lunch. It had been a bright, sunny day, and Jinx had found the shade of a tree out on the campus courtyard to sit beneath. Lux had stepped through the sunbeams to meet her, enthralled with the brightness of the day.

Only to be met with a cold glare and harsh dismissal.

But, well, Lux is good at wearing people down with kindness. Maybe this is why she was able to handle Ahri; she had already practiced the process on Jinx.

And now Jinx is her best friend, through years and stars and walking through moonbeams.

Lux steals another glance, smiling to herself.

"I think it's worth giving it a shot," Jinx eventually says, as if it's a great concession to bother explain a stance that she had defended so aggressively. "Like, it's worth _trying_ not to kill her when she's down. Giving her a chance, you know?"

Lux feels her smile strain her cheeks, and looks away from Jinx just to keep from embarrassing her by radiating too much _proud team leader_ energy.

"But," Jinx adds, pretending not to notice. "If this is a mistake, then we learn that. We learn that it was a mistake to give her a chance, and then she doesn't get any more."

"The next time she's down, we kill her," Lux rephrases, the smile quickly turning melancholic. She doesn't think there's value in skirting around it.

Jinx shrugs. "If we gotta, we gotta. We don't get all remorseful about killing the voidlings, right? Monsters are monsters. We're just seein' if she can stop bein' one or not. Wanna stay the night?"

On the tail end of this conversation, that last question startles Lux. She blinks. "Oh. Are you sure? I won't be much fun. I'll want to go to sleep right away."

When Jinx nods with another shrug, relief floods Lux's body.

She doesn't like going home. She never does.

Unwritten rules, Lux thinks. It isn't as if none of them _have_ families. Sometimes Lux wonders what part of this is the magic and what part of it is what the magic is drawn to. She refuses to believe that it's a coincidence that not a single one of them goes home to a family.

Sometimes her parents and her brother send her letters from overseas. She knows that this is more than the other girls can say. It's certainly more than Ezreal can say.

Jinx's home is surprisingly sterile. Lux is perpetually startled that it isn't messy, isn't cozy, isn't full from top to bottom with quirky decorations to suit Jinx's style.

It's just cold and empty, with shining wood floors and cold granite countertops.

Her own home would be like this if she hadn't put the effort in, she knows. Her parents' decorating sensibilities had meant matching minimalist furniture and open layouts to impress. With them overseas, Lux has spent months curating potted plants, throw pillows, and one-by-one replacing little necessities from soulless things to the cuter versions that she likes.

Jinx hasn't bothered. Her house hasn't changed since they met. The only reason there isn't a solid inch of dust is because Lux herself has made sure to come clean every now and then, usually by throwing _spring cleaning parties_ that involve three days of very relaxed, slow-paced tidying in between episodes of whatever show they are marathon-watching at the time.

Maybe one of these years it should be a _spring decorating party_ , Lux thinks. It's so hard to pick things out for Jinx, though. Lux likes to imagine she has a grasp on Jinx's general aesthetic, but every time the two of them go shopping together she's always baffled and appalled by the things Jinx pulls off the shelves to show her — and she can never place if it was a real fondness of them or just amusement, because she always shoves them right back without buying. As if it doesn't occur to her that she could have the things she wants, or even admit to it.

"Make yourself at home," Jinx offers, tossing her keys onto a table in the hall. "As per usual."

Lux nods and toes off her shoes. "I might wake up early to run to my house real quick," she says, and brushes past Jinx to get a glass of water.

"You don't need your bag or anything," Jinx points out, raising an eyebrow. "Field trip and half-day, remember?"

"Clothes," Lux says.

"Borrow mine," Jinx counters.

Lux smiles softly and offers out her still half-full glass. "Maybe. Do you mind if I take a shower before bed?"

Jinx takes it. She stares down at it for a long moment, then takes a sip. "Knock yourself out."

In the shower, Lux lets out a long exhale, trying to breathe the stress out of her body and let it go down the drain. The hot water helps her heartrate. She can't take her mind off of Zoe, but at least her body begrudgingly begins to relax, begins to acknowledge that even if it begins again, the fight is over for now.

She doesn't feel awkward, leaving the bathroom in a towel. Lux almost thinks she could bathe with Jinx without getting embarrassed.

Maybe. No, that's pushing it.

But maybe. It could be nice.

What is she thinking about?

Jinx is already in pajamas, and tosses Lux a crumpled shirt and shorts to sleep in as soon as she walks into the bedroom. Lux barely manages to catch them, her other hand still holding up the towel. Jinx turns away while she pulls the clothes on. 

They crawl into bed together, a well-worn sleepover routine that they never grew out of from their younger years. Almost immediately after turning off the lamp beside her bed, Jinx sprawls out, stretching her legs out without a care and jabbing her elbow uncomfortable into Lux's side. It's comforting in how predictable it is, and Lux just moves to give her space, perfectly content with her small slice of the bed.

She can hear Jinx breathing as she stares up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. She can feel the slightest shifts of the bed beneath them.

Jinx's breath catches like she has something she wants to say. Lux waits patiently.

Eventually she asks, her voice terse like she doesn't want to admit to worrying, "You think she's okay?"

"Zoe?"

"Soraka."

Lux hesitates. It makes sense to worry — because if anything were to happen…

Jinx doesn't seem like the type to blame herself when things go wrong. Not on the surface. She's always shirking responsibilities and taking their duties lightly. But Lux has seen her after people get hurt because of her. All that fury and rage turns inward without an outlet, left unsaid and boiling so hot that Lux worries she might explode.

Jinx doesn't like to take things seriously, but if she gets people hurt, she always ends up regretting it — always ends up frustrated with herself for her own ways.

Lux gets it; she hates when people get hurt because of her own hesitations.

She is always the most acutely aware her own flaws that need fixing at the precise moment that it is too late.

"I'm sure she's fine," she says. "If she's not, she'll call us and we'll come running."

Jinx's silhouette in the dark only drifts an unconvinced "Mm."

"My phone is right by my head. I'll wake up if someone calls."

"Okay," Jinx concedes.

"Okay," Lux repeats. She stretches her leg back to nudge her foot against Jinx's ankle. "Get some sleep. Field trip tomorrow."

"Fun," Jinx drawls.

"Better than class."

This gets a short laugh from her, and then the two of them drift back into a comfortable silence. Lux knows it takes both of them much longer than usual to fall asleep, minds racing in rebellion against their tired bodies.

Lux is not used to still being apprehensive of tomorrow when the night comes to its end.

⋆☆★☆⋆


	2. A New Day

⋆☆★☆⋆

When Lux's alarm goes off, she grabs her phone and swipes to her messages on muscle memory alone, still squinting at the blinding brightness of her screen.

It's a relief to have only a couple messages. She'd woken in the middle of the night from a nightmare of having slept through emergency calls — but there are no voicemails waiting for her in reality. Only a small flood of messages in their group chat.

SG GC  
  
Soraka 3:16 AM  
Just checking in. Nothing has changed here. She's still sleeping.   
Janna 4:45 AM  
Soraka is resting now, but no changes, yet. Zoe is still sleeping, too.   
Syndra 6:37 AM  
Situation normal.   
Ezreal 6:54 AM  
Just woke up… Everyone still good? We could skip the field trip and come over.  
Soraka 6:55 AM  
All fine, here. Enjoy your field trip. 😊 Then you can show me all the best viewpoints when we go together next time.  


Lux squints at her phone, and watches the next couple of messages come through in real-time. She feels Jinx moving behind her, stretching and reaching for her own phone. Its light spills over her shoulder.

burger party  
  
Ahri 7:01 AM  
I'm coming over after school.   
Soraka 7:01 AM  
Let me know when you're on your way, and if you've had lunch yet.   
Lulu 7:02 AM  
ヽ(๑╹ڡ╹๑)ﾉ burgers please   
Jinx 7:02 AM  
we'll come too  
Not because of the burgers.  
But yeah.  
Janna 7:03 AM  
We'll keep you updated.  


Lux swings her legs over the side of the bed, setting her phone back down. She stands up and arches her back until it cracks.

Jinx pulls herself up to lean against her headboard, still blinking sleep from her golden eyes. Her hair spills over her shoulders, pooling crimson over her thighs. Lux feels her lips quirk up into a smile, watching as Jinx looks around with bleary eyes.

"Once we're dressed, I'll brush your hair for you," Lux says.

Jinx makes a face. "It hurts when other people brush it."

"It hurts _me_ to watch _you_ brush your hair," Lux counters, putting a hand on her hip. "You just yank through."

"That's how you get it over with!"

"And it's how you damage your hair. You should have taken a shower last night, too. You need to use conditioner for hair that long."

Lux turns away to find clothes, ignoring the way Jinx mutters: "Grow _your_ hair out if you wanna deal with it so bad."

She knows the bite isn't real. Instead of replying, Lux pads across the room to look through a laundry bin. "Clean?"

When Jinx nods, Lux rummages through the bin, trying to find something dress-code acceptable. She picks up a shirt for a band she's never heard of and turns it back and forth a couple of times, checking for tears.

"Don't you have anything… Cuter?"

"No." There is a long pause, before Jinx asks, with a hesitation that masquerades as irritation, "should I?"

Lux pauses where she is, hands twitching. She berates herself internally, but only for a moment, refusing to let herself linger on it. "No. You should dress in whatever makes you comfortable. Besides, all of your clothes are cute on _you_. We just have very different aesthetics, that's all."

"You're more girly," Jinx rephrases.

"I'm not," Lux murmurs.

Jinx falls into silence.

Lux has to dig down to the bottom of the bin to find a pair of black jeans with thin tears on the thighs, but figures this is probably as good as it's going to get. She slips into them; they're a bit snug. Jinx is thinner than her, with less curves.

Lux thinks it's beautiful — that Jinx is a tall and thin, with long-limbs and longer hair — but she still knows better than to comment on this and be misinterpreted. She wishes it didn't carry that risk. Wishes she could just tell Jinx every day until she believed it that she is the most beautiful girl Lux has ever met.

But she swallows the thought with a curious pang in her chest. She reaches for her cardigan, folded neatly on the writing desk where she left it, but after holding it up in front of the mirror, just lowers it again. In the reflection, she sees Jinx approach from behind her, pausing to rummage through her laundry bin for just a moment before draping a red hoodie over Lux's shoulders.

"The pink would really clash, wouldn't it?" Lux says, setting her cardigan down. She pulls the hoodie on — it's too big. Most of Jinx's sweatshirts are.

Jinx pauses behind her, eyes locked on her reflection.

She isn't used to the way the moment stretches, implacably uncomfortable. Is this an extension of the awkward moment before? This discomfort is rare between them, like unfamiliar territory. Lux doesn't understand Jinx's eyes watching her so intently, doesn't entirely understand the longing look in her eyes before they suddenly dart away.

"It's the material," Jinx eventually offers, turning away to grab clothes for herself. "Not the color."

When Jinx has dressed, pulling on a tank-top, then shorts over her leggings, Lux steers her to the edge of the bed.

Jinx is quiet as Lux brushes her hair, save for the occasional grumble or wince. It's rare for her to be so complacent, and Lux savors the moment. She carefully combs out the tangles in Jinx's hair in the dim and quiet of the morning. She wonders if Jinx views it as something intimate, or just as an obnoxious habit of her friend. If she thinks of it at all.

No, Lux reminds herself. She knows why Jinx used to fight. There's no way that this does not mean something. All of this. Sharing clothes, sharing beds, touching so easily, these days. Even the stilted conversations that skirt the edges of Jinx's insecurities instead of sweeping them under the rug.

All of it is proof that they're — best friends. Lux doesn't understand the hesitation in her own heart when she thinks this. She's so glad that Jinx is her best friend. She loves her so much; she could never ask for anything more, and so that thought should not sink in her chest so uncomfortably.

Jinx tilts her head back. "Hurry it up, Starlight. We've got school."

Lux smiles, even as she arches an eyebrow. She nudges Jinx's head forward so she can keep brushing. "Starlight, huh? Stealing Ezreal's nickname for me?"

"I'll steal anything I can from that fucker," Jinx mutters.

Lux lets out a laugh. "You got along so well for once, just last night!"

Jinx waves a dismissive hand in the air. "He sucks."

"I think he's charming."

Jinx is quiet, and Lux cannot see her face to read her expression. Her shoulders seem tense, but maybe that's just because she's holding her cell phone, now. Lux reads the group chat over her shoulder.

lulu stop changing chat name  
  
Ezreal 7:31 AM  
You want souvenirs?   
Ezreal 7:31 AM  
Wait, probably not if we're just all gonna go back with you another time.   
Poppy 7:32 AM  
Does anyone want souvenirs from the tourist attractions in their own home town to begin with?   
Lulu 7:32 AM  
i do!!! (*^▽^*)ﾉ  
Soraka 7:32 AM  
'Home town.' … I wonder?  
Poppy 7:32 AM  
Well.  


"But," Lux says, uncomfortable with the silence. "It's just — from Ezreal, it's just one person giving me one nickname. If you start calling me that, too, it… Feels like it's really _for_ me. And that's strange, isn't it? That I'd be the only one? All of us have the same destiny. _All_ of us are star guardians. So it feels a little silly for _me_ to have some star-themed nickname when — all of us are starlight, aren't we?"

She has worked all the tangles out from Jinx's hair, and now she is running the brush through it again and again, just to touch her. Just to see the pretty shimmer and shine, and to hold on to her best friend.

Sometimes she feels like Jinx might slip away from her, like she's as untenable as a shooting star. Like she's a comet, burning up in the atmosphere.

She's had that dream before; their hands slipping apart as they fall. She doesn't know why this comes to her, now.

"Guess so," Jinx says, flatly, snapping Lux from the thought. "Braid my hair?"

"Sure," Lux chirps. Her heart soars for such a small thing; she knows how important Jinx's hair is to her. She considers being allowed to touch it as something of an honor, and looking at the pink tips of Jinx's ears is like fireworks in Lux's heart. She happily weaves crimson strands over and under.

Her eyes are watching her own fingers, but they aren't really.

Her eyes are watching Jinx's shoulder blades, cutting sharp from her back between black spaghetti-straps. Her eyes are tracing the nape of Jinx's neck as her hair is pulled away from it.

Without thinking, Lux blurts out "You're so pretty," at the same moment that Jinx says: "Nightlight."

They both go quiet. Jinx's shoulders square like she's ready for a fight.

"What?" Jinx demands, her voice almost offended.

"What?" Lux counters.

Their impasse lasts only a moment before Jinx breaks it. She huffs. "I was trying to think of a different nickname for you. Nightlight."

"Because you can't sleep without me?" Lux teases.

Jinx scoffs. "You see a nightlight in here?"

"That's — that's the joke. It's me."

"You don't stay the night every night and I sleep just fine."

" _Joke_ , Jinx."

"Yeah, yeah."

Lux pauses. Watches her fingers in earnest as she reaches the end of one braid. The hard part is getting them even. She moves onto the second one. "I think that nickname's a miss, then."

"Skylight."

"Stop using objects."

"Daylight."

"That's practically the same one! Does it really need to have light in it? And why do I need a nickname at all? Lux is already short for Luxanna. You _already_ call me a nickname."

Jinx's shoulders tense up again. Lux has to fight off the urge to rub them soothingly, reminding herself that this is an absurd impulse. She focuses on braiding.

"Everyone calls you Lux," Jinx grouses. "He gets to call you something special, so I want to."

The honesty is funny, in a way. Unashamed, because Jinx is never ashamed of her own selfishness. Lux has always found this endearing.

There have been a thousand times in her life when she has desperately wanted to be selfish. When she has been unable to do anything with her own desires but to crush them up as small as she could and bury them deep in her heart like a seed she had no intention of watering.

Lux finishes tying off the second braid, and presses a loose, indulgent hug around Jinx from behind. She draws back quickly, afraid to let herself linger. "We're best friends," she insists. "I don't need a nickname to prove it."

"I don't either," Jinx mutters, sounding sulky and embarrassed all at once. "But is he your best friend too? Does he think he is?"

Lux lets out a quiet laugh. "He's a very good friend. That's all."

The tension in Jinx's shoulders shifts as she hunches forward, an elbow on her knee and her face propped up on her palm. Lux watches her braids fall with the movement, hanging down over her back like long, pretty ribbons.

"That's all?" Jinx presses.

Lux reaches out for one of Jinx's braids. She toys with it in her fingers, surprised to see Jinx's body relax just slightly. "That's all," she says, softly.

Jinx doesn't reply for a long moment.

When she finally does, it is in the abstract; a clear-cut signal that the conversation is over. "Lightbeam."

"Nope."

⋆☆★☆⋆

They meet with their classmates at the plaza of Alune Tower. In the middle of the day, most visitors are tourists - adults on business trips, seeing the sights while they're in the city. Other kids their age are away at school; adults are at work.

It's like Poppy had pointed out — to those of them that live in Valoran City, the tower is a part of their daily scenery. Local residents don't visit tourist spots, even if they are proud of them, even if they do admire them from afar. The shine wears off when you're competing with out-of-towners and crowds.

Lux spots Ezreal and Sarah in a separate crowd of students. Sarah does an impressive job of pretending not to know either of them as Lux exchanges enthusiastic waves with Ezreal. Jinx hides a laugh under her breath and turns away quickly when Lux looks her way.

"We'll meet up with them inside," Lux assures her, enjoying the way Jinx scowls. "But we need to find our teacher so we get our attendance points."

Lux drags Jinx by the arm until they find Miss Laurent and the rest of their class. Poppy and Lulu quickly sidle up beside them, but are quieted by the well-timed beginning of a lecture.

Up close and in the daylight, the glow of the spires is less majestic. Lux can see the pixelation of the lights, can see the flickers in its looped animation. She doesn't realize that she's staring at it, spacing out and not processing the lecture until Jinx nudges her.

 _The moon has always watched over me_ , Miss Laurent reads, quoting the artist. _It has been my sister in the night. Even if I could never reach her, I would try and try and try, just to show her that I always will._

Lux thinks it's like poetry.

Miss Laurent is not one of Lux's favorite teachers, but she appreciates that her lecture covers both the truth of the artist's intentions, and a criticism of the way the city has rebranded the tower. Tourist pamphlets all place its worth as a symbol of humanity's reach for the stars. Marketing turns it into a tower of greatness to represent the metropolis city. Alune tower is proof of what we can do, in the same way that Lux thinks all great monuments are made in self-worship.

But the truth is that the artist thought of it as proof of what we _cannot_ do. And faith in the idea that we should try, anyway.

Lux thinks this is all very romantic, but voicing the thought earns her a skeptical look from Jinx. At least Lulu nods enthusiastically.

"Pointless," Jinx mutters.

The lecture turns to history, then to their instructions for the day and a reminder that they are representing the school today. When it ends, Miss Laurent passes out their day passes, then sets them loose.

The group of them are separated by the elevators, but not unwillingly. They wave each other off as they're ushered apart by patient staff, holding their phones as an easy reminder that they can text to meet up later if they want.

Inside the tower, standing stories above the rooftops, Jinx is quick to return to Lux's side. Maybe it's a side-effect of their fate as star guardians, but just feeling her presence beside her puts Lux at ease. She doesn't even have to turn away from the windows; she just catches a glimpse of red at the edge of her sight and feels the familiar warm of Jinx's shoulder, almost-but-not-quite touching hers.

Lux always hears that the world seems so small when you look at it from above. To her, the view from above makes it feel all the more vast. She can see from one end of the city to the other. It's the same as staring out at the sea and seeing the waves disappear at the edge of the horizon. It makes it feel endless.

Lux stares out at the skyline. At the residential areas and business districts and cars that look like ants. She tries to spot their school.

This is just one city. There are other guardians protecting other cities. And other guardians protecting other _worlds_. Just this one home feels like it's endless — it makes her feel out-of-body to try to think properly about the scale of it all.

She feels Jinx's hand brush the back of hers. The first time she tells herself it was nothing, that it was a mistake or a result of a crowd. Vertigo, maybe. The second time she presses her hand into the touch. She thinks about holding Jinx's hand.

She can't quite bring herself to do it, and so instead they stand side by side, the backs of their hands pressed together.

The city still feels infinite, but at least this reminds Lux that she is not alone.

"It would be nice to visit at night," Ezreal says, stepping up on her other side, his hands shoved in his hoodie pocket.

Even when he seems to appear and disappear at will, it never startles Lux, but she feels Jinx's hand twitch and pull away from her.

Lux shoots him a smile. "I bet it's gorgeous."

Lux flexes her hand, suddenly overly-aware of it. She sees Jinx silently step away from them, sees the way Ezreal tilts his head after her, curiously.

"She okay?"

"She's fine," Lux says, easily. "She just hates you."

Ezreal heaves a theatrical sigh. "And we were getting along so well last night."

"Agreeing about something isn't the same as getting along," Lux says. She pauses, then adds. "Unfortunately."

"Any idea _why_ she hates me?" Ezreal asks. He sounds more conversational than bothered by it, and Lux thinks that this is one of his best traits. He always seems to take things as they come, without complaint or fuss.

Instead of the honest answer, which Lux does not know how to voice without sounding conceited, she says, "I don't know. Some people just clash. Like destiny."

When her gaze flits over in Jinx's direction, she can see that the other girl is watching them from a distance. Jinx does not hurriedly look away like she is embarrassed to be caught. She does not even glare. This surprises Lux, and she watches as Jinx's eyes just drift dispassionately over the two of them, then away.

There is something about her expression that strikes Lux as deeply disappointed, and she does not know what to do with this. It isn't as comical as the overreactions and anger.

"We're big on destiny," Ezreal remarks.

Lux turns her attention back to him. She opens her mouth to respond, but before a word can escape her, she hears both their phones vibrate in unison.

Lux digs her phone out of her pocket in a hurry and is aware of Ezreal doing the same at the edge of her sight. It's probably nothing, she tells herself. Probably just another status update that things are fine, she tells herself.

But in the split second before she sees the screen of her phone, it occurs to Lux that they don't have a plan for when Zoe wakes up.

SG GC  
  
Syndra 11:13 AM  
Zoe is gone.  
Jinx 11:13 AM  
good gone or bad gone   
Janna 11:13 AM  
Bad. She woke up, attacked us, and ran off into one of her portals.   
Ahri 11:14 AM  
Is everyone okay  
Syndra 11:14 AM  
Yes  
Syndra 11:14 AM  
But  
Syndra 11:14 AM  
She's probably headed your way.  


Lux has hardly read the message before the glass windows shatter.

⋆☆★☆⋆

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm playing with work skins! And for credit's sake, the group chat LINE skin was coded by [ran_a_dom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19150123/chapters/45514369)!


	3. Prestige

⋆☆★☆⋆

The fire alarm is going off, but Lux doesn't smell smoke. Her eyes dart all around her, taking in information in flashes.

The lights are off and the sky is dark. They're at the eye of a sudden storm, and wind is already whipping her hair into her face. The windows are shattered, turned to nothing but glass shards at her feet.

Crowds of visitors in the tower are rushing to the stairs, kept relatively calm by well-trained staff. The only shouting is brief — only to find friends and family nearby. Lux watches as Jinx pushes a child by the back towards their father, her touch carrying urgency and gentleness both. Her other hand is pressed against her cheek. Ezreal is already gone; probably finding somewhere hidden to transform. He's always good at sneaking away in the blink of an eye.

Lux needs to vanish, too. She makes quick eye contact with Jinx, jerking her head towards the restrooms. She moves with the crowd towards the exits, then splits away seamlessly, ducking around a corner and hurrying down the narrow hall.

"Is anyone in here? We're evacuating," Lux calls out, stepping into the restroom. Her voice echoes off the tile. She adds the first lie she can come up with. "There was a lightning strike nearby."

When Jinx comes in, Lux is halfway through checking every stall. With both of them, it doesn't take long to make sure the room is empty.

Their eyes meet, but Lux's gaze darts down. There's a small cut across Jinx's cheek.

Lux knows they don't have time, but she doesn't even think before reaching out to touch Jinx's face. She watches her own thumb as she wipes away a smear of blood. Watches Jinx's expression shift from confusion to some kind of helplessness.

"We're seeing Soraka later," Jinx reminds her, sounding almost suspicious of Lux's concern.

"I still don't like it when you get hurt," Lux says. "Especially when it's just — happenstance."

She is conscious of their reflections in the mirrors over the row of sinks. Like a spotlight on her own embarrassing actions. A projection of audience to intrude on them. Lux lowers her hand.

"Anyway," Lux mutters, "Let's deal with Zoe."

Jinx shares a nod with her, and they transform together.

The power that lights up her body is a comfort. Lux does not know that she has ever felt _safe_ before in her life, but those first moments of starlight are her best guess at what it would be like. The surge in energy, in strength. Feeling mana flow through her, like air through an extra set of lungs.

The world is crisper, clearer. Her body is lighter and everything makes _sense_ like this. She knows who she is, like this.

⋆☆✦☆⋆

When the two of them burst back out from the hall, they're met with the tower just as they left it. Sparkling fragments of glass at their feet and dark grey shadows pushing their way in through empty window frames. Without the crowds now, it is still and quiet.

The wind picks up at the edges of the room — where Ezreal stands with his back to them, cape billowing. It's a relief to know that if anyone could handle a fall from this high, it's the one standing dangerously close to the ledge.

And then there is Zoe, sitting outside on the edge of a portal.

The view of it is viscerally upsetting; Lux can't quite wrap her head around the sight. Like a perfect hole punched in reality, peering into the dark of another universe. Sat on like a windowsill.

"Doesn't it mean anything to you?" Ezreal demands, and Lux knows even without being able to see that he is more sad than angry.

Zoe kicks her legs childishly, fingers curled around the edges as if to keep her balanced. She opens her mouth to reply, but as Jinx and Lux step up to either side of Ezreal, her lips tug into a frown. She leans far back into her portal with an exaggerated groan, then swings back upright.

"I thought you guys were all split up!" Zoe whines.

Lux hears the drag of Poppy's hammer through the glass as she joins them, followed quickly by Lulu. They must have transformed in the gift-shop, judging by the direction they came from.

"Too bad for you," Poppy says, stepping into their ranks. "We're still a team."

"Do you get bored of saying stuff like that?" Zoe asks, her expression more genuinely curious than cruel.

This is what always throws Lux off. It's the lack of malice behind her actions. There is an inherent cruelty in what she does — Lux isn't naïve enough to think that Zoe is blind to this. But somehow, the cruelty is not quite the point of it. Lux just wishes she knew what _was_.

"It's fun," Lulu offers, a sincere answer for a sincere question. "It feels happy."

"Giving words to the way we connect with others, and having them confirm it," Ezreal agrees, with an edge of defiance in his tone. "It's satisfying. It…" He falters, but after a moment chooses to double-down on the clumsy wording. "It feels happy."

Lux wonders if he is saying this for Lulu's benefit or Zoe's. Lulu gives him a lopsided grin, like she's pleased either way.

"Wow, gross," Zoe says. She raises an eyebrow. "Are you guys trying to _teach_ me something? You get how pointless that is, right?"

"You keep asking questions," Lux points out. "So we keep answering them."

Lux's eyes slice over to Ezreal at the same moment that he glances to her, and she knows that they are on the same wavelength. Both hoping beyond hope, praying beyond reason, that there is a way to change her. To get through to her. Both of them wishing with all their hearts that with enough patience, they can prove that she doesn't have to be a monster.

She wonders if Jinx still believes in this wish, too.

_If this is a mistake, then we learn that. We learn that it was a mistake to give her a chance, and then she doesn't get any more._

That's what Jinx had said.

And after healing Zoe, here she is. Not only on the offensive, but in the middle of the day — in the middle of the city.

Lux wants to believe there is meaning in the way she did not hurt any civilians. In the way that the worst of her surprise attack was a thin cut on Jinx's cheek. But it's at odds, it's _always_ at odds with the cold hard fact that she is here.

That when she bores of this prelude, she'll be on the attack.

It happens in seconds. With an idle, "Bored now," Zoe steps down from her portal, walking on air as if there are invisible steps spread out before her.

She throws out a sparkle of light behind her, and Lux feels everyone tense beside her. They know this move, they know the way it will snap back like a yo-yo, and each of them is readying to dodge out of the way.

"This is a bad place for a fight," Ezreal mutters under his breath, one foot sliding back in anticipation.

The way Zoe watches them is unnerving; like a shark playing eeny meeny on who to bite a chunk out of.

"Gotta stall," Lux murmurs back, grip tightening around her wand. "There are still innocent people below, we can't just jump down and lead her to a clearing. It's the middle of the day."

"Gonna let her destroy the tower?" Jinx asks. "I mean, better than killing randos I guess, but—"

"— _Pay attention to me!_ " Zoe wails.

She hurls her empty fist forward, and the burst of starlight follows the motion. It shoots straight for the center of them.

In a burst of light, Ezreal is across the room and ducked behind a counter.

Poppy steps up in front of Lux while Lulu steps behind her. She swings her hammer with her whole body, knocking away sparks of magic with her own.

Lux flings her wand out towards Jinx, willing it to dissipate into a shield around Jinx — she's only one left defenseless, the only one who makes no effort to dodge. Lux sees a second shimmer as Lulu's shield settles over-top hers.

Jinx, without cowering or dodging at all, just aims her cannon.

Poppy blocks most of the magic from hitting them directly — Lux feels the heat burn her bare arms. The sound is deafening and the light blinding. She clenches her eyes shut until it's over; she hears Jinx firing with reckless abandon right through it.

When Lux blinks back her vision, Jinx's body is heaving, both shields shattered and gone. Her clothes are singed and burned at the edges, hair mussed. But her eyes are glowing gold, brighter than the sun, and she laughs, firing again and again.

Zoe is dancing through portals, laughing. She's too fast to be caught, her portals too random to be predicted.

Lux calls her wand back into her hands to focus, then throws a sphere of light out at Zoe. She spreads it thin, spreads it as wide as she can just in hopes of slowing her.

Ezreal is back by her side again, flinging rapid-fire shots to limit where Zoe can safely dodge to.

Zoe drags her weight through the light, scowling, twirling, sticking her tongue out as she leans back to dodge a mystic shot.

Jinx's bullet knocks a gem from her hair.

Zoe freezes. It's only for a split second — Jinx doesn't stop firing, doesn't _let_ her draw out of the moment for dramatics. But the shift is clear. The dancing and laughing end and she is scowling, her hair rising up with her magic and fury.

"No fun," Zoe mutters, throwing her hands back, calling more comets. "No fun, no fun, no fun!"

Lux catches movement at the edge of her sight. A moving shadow behind them.

"We need her inside," Lux says, decisive.

She doesn't get a chance to explain herself — the comets shriek towards them and this time they can't stand their ground.

Obediently, they scurry further from the windows in different directions.

Lux winces when she glances over her shoulder at the charred floor; at the shrapnel-holes burnt into it.

Zoe follows them, her feet coming to land on the floor slowly and with a clear disdain.

"Huh," she says, trying and failing not to sound annoyed. "You _want_ me to wreck this place?"

A few steps further — Lux watches her closely as she draws closer. She squeezes her wand and forces her eyes not wander over her shoulder.

Zoe throws her hands back, but before starlight can manifest a shot of magic knocks her wrist off course.

Zoe whirls around, but it's too late — Ahri's magic slams into her in a burst. Zoe's spine goes straight, her feet moving on their own, briefly in a daze. Lux doesn't waste it, throwing out her light and slamming it down around her in a cage as bright as she can.

"We're still a team," Ahri echoes, and behind her, Sarah aims both guns in warning. "We're never that far apart. Did you forget?"

Trapped behind the light-beams, Zoe seethes. "I thought you weren't the sneaky type, that's all!"

"The sneaky type is _exactly_ what I am," Ahri says.

Lux feels her magic wavering, feels the pressure on it, pushing from inside the beams.

"No fair," Zoe mutters. "No fair, no fair, no fair."

"Don't be spoiled," Lux grinds out, pulling at her magic as hard as she can, begging it to stay so that they can keep this moment going. She knows that it's stalling, knows that _all_ of them are stalling because they don't _want_ to have to fight her in earnest.

"Don't be unfair!" Zoe counters.

She doesn't break-down Lux's spell. Instead a portal opens beneath her feet. Lux doesn't have time to shift the angle of her magic before Zoe drops through it.

When her new portal opens for her to step through, it is not the only one. Two more open beside her; four split open on the floor.

"Now who's no fair," Jinx mutters.

Xayah steps out from the portal to Zoe's left, Rakan from the portal to her right.

And Lux readies herself for the voidlings to come as well.

⋆☆✦☆⋆

The space is too small to fight in. It isn't like their fights in the park, where the way they move and weave around the grounds are part of the strategy.

It's more akin to the few times they've been caught, flanked from either side of the bridge by a bad call or bad luck.

Lux dives out of the way of one of Jinx's rockets and doesn't even bother trying to scold her. She flings out a snare as she keeps moving; no matter where she stops, she's in someone's way. Two voidlings screech and sizzle, pressing themselves against the cage of light; Ezreal shimmers in front of her to finish the job.

She doesn't even see what he's pushing her out of the way of - whether it was friendly fire or an enemy, but his palm shoves her between the shoulder blades. She falls to her knees, reflexively dissipating her staff into a shield before quickly scrambling back up and moving.

Rakan blocks her path so suddenly that she nearly knocks into his chest.

She doesn't have the energy for another snare; she shoves her hands out to push him back from her but she's weak on her own and he just stares down, unmoving.

But — he should be attacking. She doesn't understand the beat of hesitation, can't read the expression on his face. She opens her mouth, unsure of what she would even ask, but sees the glint of light shooting towards her and has to jump away again.

Xayah is stepping towards her in calm, measured steps, like the chaos around them is nothing. Like Ahri is not dashing behind her after Zoe, leaping after the rapidly closing and opening portals with star-fire in her palms. Like Sarah's bullets are not streaking by her, striking voidlings one after the other.

She moves towards Lux like she's walking through raindrops, walking through bullets, as even Jinx tries to lay down cover.

Poppy charges at Rakan to keep the fight fair, Lulu at her side.

When Xayah summons more of those stardust-blades between her fingers, Lux sees the shimmer of her clothes. From deep dark purple to a pale pastel pink. It hollows her chest, makes her heart sink with a frustration and despair that she knows should be hope.

They can't get through to Zoe. They've been trying for so long, trying so hard — there's no way they're getting through to her puppets.

Those traces of purity taunt Lux. Dangle in front of her on a string what she wants with all her heart.

Xayah readies herself to throw, and all Lux can think as she hears the sounds all around her is that they are losing this fight. This is a fight they usually barely survive — and that's when they have another shield, another healer, and two more mages.

—Wait. Two?

Xayah's throw is off — a heavy weight knocks into her from behind just as she lets go, knocking her to the ground. Lux snaps from her reverie and as the figure draws back, draws all the energy she can muster into another snare.

"Neeko is sorry for being late," the figure says, though in the shape of Xayah. Her voice trembles, and her eyes dart down instead of meeting Lux's. "Neeko didn't want to fight here. Was scared."

"It's okay," Lux murmurs. "You're here now."

Lux doesn't know if it was Neeko's intention or a limitation of her magic, but the illusion of Xayah is wrong. Pastel pink and teal — the way that Neeko must remember her best.

Zoe's portal drops her down nearby, and she jerks her head for Rakan to follow. As if he'd only been toying with them, he knocks Poppy and Lulu back.

His eyes scan over the true Xayah with recognition. Lux knows he isn't stupid. She may not have known him in the past, before he was a puppet, but she knows from what Ahri has said. If there's any illusion he won't fall for, it's Xayah.

But even so, he falters when he sees Neeko's illusion. Mid-step, he pauses. Hesitates.

If Zoe notices, it doesn't show. She doesn't even see where Xayah is bound to the floor, unable to get up without hitting Lux's shallow cage.

All she sees is Xayah — purified and healed.

Zoe whirls to look at Lux, glowering with a silent accusation in her eyes that Lux doesn't understand. If anyone would develop a power to purify, it wouldn't be her. She knows it wouldn't.

Neeko summons the image of stardust-blades with a flick of her wrist. But what she throws out isn't knives — it's her snare.

"Rakan!" Zoe snaps, calling for him like a shield.

Surrounded by the other Star Guardians still fighting back the voidlings, Rakan is still.

The illusion dispels from Neeko, shimmering away and leaving her as herself.

She shoots Lux a tentative smile.

"Neeko doesn't think it's impossible," she says, as if she'd read her mind. Maybe she'd just read it on Lux's face. Neeko's gaze shifts, drifting across Xayah, Zoe, and Rakan. "Neeko thinks you can all come home some day. Just like Neeko did."

Lux feels the pull of magic from all around them. Feels Jinx stepping to her side, and realizes that the voidlings have thinned out, that the others are watching them.

"It's different," Ahri snaps, chest heaving from exertion and finally given a moment to breathe. "You didn't _fall,_ Neeko."

Lux feels the way energy is swirling all around them, not siphoning from them but intermingling, mixing. All of it drawing tighter and tighter towards Neeko, and it feels like when a Star Guardian transforms — but she's already transformed.

Lux has never seen defiance in Neeko's eyes before, or heard a confidence from her like this: "Neeko still believes. Neeko will show you. Don't worry."

The burst of light is blinding. She hears stray shrieking and can't place who it was — Lulu? Ahri? Lux knows her shield is weak by now, but she presses it into Jinx anyway, and feels the way Jinx steps in front of her protectively.

The light fades, but not from Neeko. She _glows_. Her hair and clothes are lighter now, changed, tinted gold and radiant. Her snare around Zoe, golden beams wrapped around her, shimmer with a renewed strength just when Lux knows they would usually be wearing down.

Lux watches over Jinx's shoulder, her face pressed to the other girl's collarbone and her arms wrapped around her waist like a rock to steady herself.

Neeko steps closer to Zoe.

Lux's snare has worn off, but Rakan only helps Xayah up, both of them just — watching. Mystified and cautious, unsure of what to expect from this transformation. Too smart to jump into a situation they don't understand.

Neeko reaches out to touch the gem on Zoe's chest, and the light strikes down on them again.

⋆☆⟡☆⋆

Burger Party  
  
Ahri 2:46 PM  
So.   
Janna 2:46 PM  
Is everyone alright?  
Ezreal 2:47 PM  
Haha.   
Jinx 2:47 PM  
haha...   
Aha...  
Poppy 2:47 PM  
Good question.   
Syndra 2:47 PM  
Ominous.   
Lulu 2:47 PM  
burger party for 12! (۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶ we're on our way!   
Soraka 2:48 PM  
I'll take that as a good sign! I can make burgers for everyone. 😊  
Soraka 2:48 PM  
Wait.  
Soraka 2:48 PM  
12?  
Soraka 3:15 PM  
12???  



	4. Small Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A preemptive apology because one of my favorite things to write is: Characters Having Pointless Conversations For Way Too Long. I usually snip them out before posting, but this time it's the whole chapter. Suffer.

⋆☆★☆⋆

Ezreal is cradling Zoe in his arms.

It's the same way that Soraka had held her the other night — like nothing more than a napping child. Lux has held Lulu this way before and knows the deceptive weight of it. Lulu is smaller and lighter, and Lux still has a hard time after just five minutes.

But after carrying her from Alune Tower to Soraka's house, through multiple bus-rides and now a long sidewalk trek, Ezreal still won't put her down. Maybe this is his way of taking responsibility for her; for his vote against leaving her for dead.

With Zoe's hair turned blonde, shot through with streaks of pale pastels, Ezreal could almost pass for her older brother.

Lux had thought last night was surreal, but today has it beat. Everything is just one step _weirder_. Zoe isn't just unconscious - she's purified. All of them are not silent — they haven't been for a second since it happened.

Not that conversation is at all productive. They are avoiding the matter at hand until everyone is present.

"What do you think it'll be this time?" Ezreal asks, tilting his head at an angle that looks uncomfortable to let Zoe's cheek rest in the crook of his neck.

"The lightning thing, definitely," Sarah says, firmly.

"It's never what we guess it's going to be," Ahri points out.

The fact that even Ahri is contributing to such a wildly off-topic conversation only adds to the strangeness of it.

"But like, what else _makes sense_?" Jinx asks.

"Terrorism…?" Poppy offers.

"Neeko is not a terrorist," Neeko says, demurely.

Ezreal snorts and gives a small but pointed nod to Zoe. "Uh, but _this one_ kind of _is_?"

Lux frowns. "The First Star covers for us because the public shouldn't know about any of this — they're not going to make anyone's memories _worse_ than the truth."

"So you're betting on lightning?" Lulu asks.

"I'm not betting!"

" _You're_ the one who said it was a lightning strike," Jinx points out.

"It was all I could think of! I just wanted to make sure everyone was evacuating—"

"—So you _do_ think it's a viable cover story. Lulu, mark her down."

Lulu salutes, but there isn't a betting pool and she isn't keeping track.

Lux nudges Jinx lightly in the side, and the other girl snickers. Her eyes scrunch up and she grins with a flash of sharp and shiny teeth. Lux feels her face go warm and barely processes the conversation carrying on around her.

"Maybe they'll go with a power surge," Sarah says.

"Mm, like an overloaded breaker exploding or something?" Ezreal asks.

Poppy looks up. "Can that happen?"

"It _can,_ technically."

Lux whispers to Jinx, "Thanks, by the way."

("Oh!" Lulu gasps, then says, revelatory, " _Hailstorm_."

"Doubt it," Ahri says, easily. "Not centralized enough, more memories to deal with than necessary.")

Jinx looks at Lux sidelong, eyebrows raised. "For what?"

("Hailstorms can be centralized," Poppy says.  
  
Sarah chews her lip thoughtfully. "I think the slim odds of that would draw more attention than an exploding circuit breaker.")

"Um," Lux murmurs, eventually. She remembers the sensation of her face pressed to Jinx's collarbone and of holding her arms around her vividly. "You know. Protecting me at the end, there."

(Ezreal stares up to the sky, looking contemplative. "Birds," he says.)

Jinx's gaze slices away from Lux, and she is quiet for a moment too long. Lux does not know what to make of it; it makes her heartbeat stutter out of rhythm.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she says, then very quickly, raising her voice, "What the fuck? _Birds?_ "

"Yeah," Ezreal says. "You know, like… A whole bunch of them broke through the windows."

Ahri sighs deeply. "To reiterate, the whole point is to keep people calm and draw attention away from the weirdness."

"I think the people are prepared for it," Ezreal carries on. "I've seen movies."

Despite herself, Lux laughs at the joke, and he shoots her an appreciative look.

"My Starlight," he teases, "You're the only one who understands me."

Jinx's voice goes shrill; _"'My'?"_

⋆☆★☆⋆

Lux has managed to calm Jinx down by the time they reach Soraka's mansion of a home. They let themselves inside with the key hidden in a familiar spot — beneath a lawn ornament to the left. Inside, they easily find their usual places in her living room.

Ezreal carefully sinks down onto the couch, Zoe still resting against his chest despite that he could set her down now, if he wanted. Lux knows she is not the only one who notices, who watches him with a curiosity but does not say anything about it.

Lulu and Poppy climb up onto the couch beside him. Lux and Jinx sit on the floor in front of them. Across the coffee table, Neeko kneels down.

Sarah seats herself on the arm-rest of the lounge chair Ahri sits in. In the identical chair across from her, Janna is sitting up straight, with Syndra standing beside her.

They quiet for the first time in over an hour. The silence is broken only by the sound of Soraka's fluffy slippers squeaking as she pads across the room to bring plates to them.

She pauses when her eyes land on Zoe. Just for a moment, nearly imperceptible, and then she resumes what she was doing. As if everything is normal, she says: "I didn't want anyone's to get cold, and I'm making so many that they're going to be a bit staggered. I hope that's alright."

"It's perfect," Lux assures her. "Do you want some help in the kitchen? Cooking for this many people is a lot."

Soraka smiles, but shakes her head. "I'm very organized. There's nothing much you could do — but thank you. I appreciate the offer."

"We appreciate you cooking for us more."

"Yeah!" Lulu agrees. "Thanks for lunch!"

Soraka nods. "It's nothing. A thank-you for your hard work today."

"Please, no more," Jinx groans. "I can't handle these endless cycles of _polite_ you guys get into."

"They're grating, aren't they?" Syndra agrees, flatly. Lux can't tell if she's joking, and judging by Jinx's sudden silence, neither can she.

The way Soraka smiles gives Lux the impression that it doesn't matter to her either way — that even were it a sincere jab, her passivity still makes her the victor. Soraka leaves them again, returning to the kitchen.

All of their stupid bickering had been to make sure they only spoke of what mattered when everyone was present, but even now they are waiting on — burgers, of all things.

"I'm—" Jinx begins, turning to face Lux, and her voice so quiet that Lux is certain Ezreal does not even realize he is speaking over her.

"—I've never really understood the whole… High schoolers _thing_. Can I throw that out there? That it's ridiculous that a room of teenagers is in charge of this stuff?"

Flatly, Poppy says, "It's a genre staple."

"You're saying the First Star watched too much magical girl anime?" Ahri asks, already sounding exhausted by the new topic.

"A lot of it's about kids," Lulu says, between bites. "Elementary schoolers."

"Then does that make it a kindness that we're older?" Ezreal asks.

Lux is surprised that Jinx is playing along with this; that she isn't upset at being interrupted. Or by _who_ had interrupted her. Instead she leans her head back and drawls, "Despite _appearances_ ," and just snickers when Poppy's feet dig into her shoulders.

"Maybe it's about scale," Neeko says, but sounds like she is barely following the conversation. "How old we are and how bad things are."

"So it's _not_ a kindness," Ezreal says. Lux can't tell if he's still joking. Maybe there is a frustration, simmering under the surface, one that he hasn't learned to accept yet.

"It," Jinx begins, her voice sharp like she wants to argue, but this time it doesn't take an interruption for her to trail off. Her brow furrows, and she is quick to accept the distraction when Soraka brings her plate out.

"Kindness will always be limited by necessity," Soraka says, drifting into the conversation with ease, but just as quickly wandering away again.

Lux takes it to mean they shouldn't continue down that path. She tries to divert conversation, laughing lightly. "The costumes would feel a lot sillier if I were in my twenties or older."

"You think that now," Ahri says, "But when you're in your twenties you won't feel much different."

Syndra lets out a quiet puff that might have been a laugh if she were anyone else, and her lips have a faint curl to them. "And how would you know?"

"I just know."

"But then it turns into a real chicken or the egg situation," Poppy muses. "Was magical girl anime something that was born from unspoken knowledge or slipped secrets? Or were real magical girls created in the image of the fantasy?"

"I've seen a movie about that too," Ezreal chimes in. "But with spaceships and stuff."

This receives scattered withering stares from all over the room.

"Star Guardians have been around a lot longer than anime, I think?" Lux says. "And not all worlds developed the same media trends — it's not like this planet is the only one under guardian protection... I don't think we can theorize about something on such a big scale based on what _this_ particular planet developed."

"Nerd," Jinx mutters. Lux bounces her knee, knocking it against Jinx's playfully.

"Then we _know_ that Star Guardians came first and magical girl anime came after," Sarah says. "Think we can collect royalties for inspiring the genre?"

"If anyone could it would be the First Star," Lux points out. "Anyway, I don't think the concept is impossible to come up with without seeing it first hand. You can't only credit the first example and think no one else could come up with the same thing separately."

"Big corporations sue smaller companies for that kind of thing all the time," Ezreal says.

Lulu tilts her head to the side. "Is the First Star a corporation?"

"Metaphorically," Jinx answers, and Lux laughs. Maybe she was supposed to say something next, but she's too distracted by the amusement twinkling in Jinx's eyes when they look at each other.

There is a brief lull in conversation — enough of them have their lunch now to pause for bites.

"Do you think," Ezreal says, slowly, "that Zoe was fighting other Star Guardians?"

Janna perks up, unwilling for today to participate in their nonsense but interested in the more pressing matters. "What do you mean?"

"Well, like Lux was just saying — this isn't the only planet that Star Guardians protect."

"But it's the only one with multiple teams at a time," Ahri points out. "I think that makes it safe to say that we're facing more trouble than other worlds."

"Different trouble," Soraka says, her appearance somehow startling despite that her approach is anything but silent. After handing out the last of their plates, she sits down beside Neeko.

Lux doesn't think it would be worth it to ask for clarification. Sometimes she thinks that Lulu and Soraka aren't interested in answering their questions clearly — for how poorly they deflect when nothing else will serve as a convenient interruption or distraction.

But other times Lux thinks that the frequency of those interruptions means something. Like maybe it isn't up to them.

At the very least, Lux trusts them both too much to press what they don't want to answer, even if she doesn't understand. Generally, whatever their oddities, Lux has chosen to always look at them through a lens of compassion.

This makes it all the more strange that Lux's heart skips a furious beat when Soraka reaches across the coffee table to cup Jinx's cheek in her palm. There is such a deep well of emotion behind Soraka's eyes, so much worry and love, that Lux almost does not know what to do in the face of its sincerity.

"What about the others?" Soraka asks, as magic glows from her palm. The small cut on Jinx's cheek heals over. "Rakan… And Xayah?"

Lux realizes, belatedly, that this is where all that emotion on her face was directed. She feels the smallest bit of discomfort ebb away from her as Soraka pulls back. She feels silly.

She is used to Jinx being jealous, in the way that children unused to having friends are prone to feeling possessive once they find them. She is unused to it in herself.

"The puppets ran," Jinx answers, probably only because Soraka was facing her when she asked. She shrugs, then wipes at her cheek awkwardly. "Thanks."

"Barely saw them slip away," Ahri mutters. "It was so bright when Neeko…"

"Prestige," Neeko offers, around a mouthful of burger. She is so matter-of-fact that Lux does not even know where to begin asking questions.

Lux takes a bite of her burger, but Janna is looking at her expectantly, and Lux knows it's her duty as a leader to properly convey what the three of them had missed. She swallows, and tries to step into her metaphorical leader-shoes.

"When Zoe showed up, the tower was evacuated pretty quickly. I don't think anyone was hurt."

"She probably didn't _want_ anyone hurt," Ezreal murmurs, and across the room Ahri's ear twitches, her frown deepening.

Lux continues, "So we fought her, and Xayah and Rakan—"  
  
"—And a ton of voidlings," Jinx interjects, grouchily.

Lux shoots her a look. "And then Neeko… Um… Prestiged?" At Neeko's curt nod, Lux continues. "She touched Zoe's gem. Then there was this… Bright light."

Ahri's gaze is downcast as she speaks, holding her burger delicately. "Xayah and Rakan ran as it was fading. I think they got a good look at her and bailed. The rifts were closing and they were outnumbered; they knew it would be stupid to stay."

"Maybe they were afraid of the same thing happening to them," Poppy suggests.

Lulu shakes her head remorsefully. "They'd like it if they tried it. Like tomato."

Soraka manages a weak smile, though Lux isn't sure if it's pride in having slowly converted Lulu into eating tomatoes over the last three months or if it's just the sentiment.

The idea that they could come home. That they could be healed beyond what she's capable of.

Lux had felt so hopeless about it just an hour ago, but now she thinks: isn't it inevitable? If Neeko could purify Zoe, wouldn't the other two be somehow _easier_? Those flickers of their old colors, those have to mean something. When you do the hardest thing first, doesn't that mean it's smooth sailing from there?

Not that Lux expects it to be easy, but she expects it to be _possible_. She can't help it. The optimism is a fountain inside her and she feels as if it's been freshly repaired.

Jinx's pinky pointedly crosses over hers on the floor, where their hands rest side by side. "What're you so smiley for?"

"It just — opens up possibilities, you know? If Zoe is back to her old self."

"You can't just…!" Ahri snaps, suddenly, her voice venomous and her tails sticking straight up. "You can't just think this is fixed! Whatever Neeko did is some kind of miracle, but Zoe is _still Zoe._ She was never _corrupted,_ she was never _possessed_. She's not _like_ those two puppets. What do you think it _means_ that she was 'purified'?"

The urge to stay silent and hide from conflict is strong, but Lux sees Jinx square her shoulders beside her and knows she needs to cut her off.

All she can think to do is answer Ahri's question with a cautious sincerity. "Her magic isn't steeped in the void anymore. I can feel that much."

"That was _never the problem_!" Ahri looks exasperated. Lux wishes she could save her the trouble of explaining, but when she glances to the others — to Syndra and Sarah, even Janna, they all just look away.

Soraka takes her time finishing her mouthful, then setting down her burger and wiping her hands on her napkin. She is staring down at the edge of the coffee table when she speaks. "Zoe… Has been doing the things she does since long before the void got to her. It's more apt to say that she called it to her than the other way around."

Lux glances to Ezreal to see his reaction, but his expression is unreadable. With one arm still slung around Zoe to hold her in place, he is carefully leaning to the side to bite into his own burger. Lux could almost believe the conversation didn't interest him, or that he isn't listening at all. She's sure that's his stubbornness.

Ahri deflates, worn out from a full day of hyper-vigilance. Quieter, she says, "She's not like Xayah and Rakan. They used to be good. Zoe _never_ was. We can't just keep - defeating her and letting her heal up just to fight us again tomorrow. We can't do this over and over, that's what last night was _about_."

"I understand where you're coming from," Lux ventures. "If today were like yesterday, we'd be having a different conversation. But… Whatever happened today was different. We can't guess its results, can we?"

"I can," Ahri mutters.

"Why would First Star bless Neeko with this power if it doesn't help?" Neeko asks, looking wide-eyed and dejected.

"Because the First Star is kind of a jerk, in case you hadn't noticed," Jinx says. "Why would they wait so long to give _anyone_ a power like that, if it's an option? Why wouldn't they just purify someone themselves? If someone can _get_ the power to purify, why don't they just make all of us, I don't know, corruption-proof?"

"Jinx," Lux murmurs, and the other girl obediently quiets, slouching back against the couch.

But for once, no one else is waiting to scold her. For once, everyone else seems to agree with the sentiment.

Ezreal breaks the silence. "I don't know. It would be hard to expect someone to change when they're neck deep in the void. If you're going to ask someone to change, don't they deserve a blank slate?"

"It's more valuable for someone to change with acknowledgment of what they did wrong," Syndra says. Her tone is flat, and Lux does not miss the way the rest of her teammates do not look her way. "You should change because you understand that you were wrong. Pretending you were never wrong in the first place isn't beneficial."

Janna's eyes are straight ahead, not looking at anyone in particular, but at an empty spot on the wall. "She's right. The people who have been wronged won't let go of their hurt so easily."

Lux gets the feeling they are talking to each other; coded conversations between them that they refuse to have in private.

It feels like a change of subject when Poppy nods and responds, "A proper apology includes acknowledging your mistakes. And I don't even know if I believe in redemption for how much harm she's done. She's starting so far in the negatives that we can't just bump her to zero because her magic has shifted."

"She was chosen to be a Star Guardian," Lux says, unsure of what else she _can_ say. "I just think - that has to mean something."

"Trusting the First Star doesn't have to be all or nothing," Ahri murmurs.

Both Lulu and Soraka glance up, as if these words are a curiosity that they are trying to discern.

But the truth is: Lux is not sure. She is not sure that she trusts that Zoe is not going to attack them again. With purified magic, she could still attack them.

They can't know if the purification has done anything. Even if it has, will it last? All Lux can think is that the blonde of Neeko's hair had faded away with her transformation. Zoe's transformation hasn't faded — but like Neeko's, the colors of her clothes have shifted into white and gold and prismatic pastels. 

Lux knows better than anyone that rainbows like that are just a trick of the light.

⋆☆★☆⋆

SG GC  
  
Syndra 2:43 AM  
At the park. Two rifts. Lulu is here already.  
Syndra 2:43 AM  
Hurry.  
Sarah 2:43 AM  
on my way  
Janna 2:43 AM  
En route.  
Poppy 2:43 AM  
Coming  
Ahri 2:43 AM  
omw   
Be there in a minute.  
Jinx 2:43 AM  
^   
Neeko 2:44 AM  
im  
Ezreal 2:44 AM  
I'll come get you.  
Neeko 2:45 AM  
thank  
Soraka 2:45 AM  
Should I come?  
Syndra 2:47 AM  
No. Stay with Zoe. It's just the puppets.   


**Author's Note:**

> Flirting with her is like cool nights beaming, Stars glued to my thighs


End file.
